Tag Archives: Dusseldorf

Is Joe Biden the new Democratic frontrunner? It certainly seems that way, after the former vice president took a delegate lead over Bernie Sanders with a triumphant sweep of the southern Super Tuesday states, capped by a win in Texas. Yet Sanders kept some of his momentum with victory in California, setting up what will likely be a long, drawn-out battle between the two wings of the party and their septuagenarian standard-bearers.

Elizabeth Warren – the Massachusetts Senator lost even her home state on Tuesday night, but remains in the race as of Wednesday morning – perhaps with a contested convention in mind.

Michael Bloomberg – the billionaire former New York mayor had planned to make a splash as he at last entered the race on Tuesday, on the back of a $500m ad spend. Instead he claimed just one small victory, in American Samoa. (The Guardian, 3/4/2020)

Michael Bloomberg withdrew from the race later in the day.

TIME TO MOVE ON FROM OBAMA

He won them two presidential elections, but Democrats are increasingly ready to put President Barack Obama in their rear view, according to exit polls from the Super Tuesday slate of primaries, which showed a startling number of party faithful saying it’s time to move on.

Mr. Obama remains popular in the Deep South, where black voters play an outsized role in Democratic politics, but from Maine to Minnesota, voters said they are no longer thrilled with the man who brought them the first universal health care plan and flexed his executive pen to grant a deportation amnesty to “Dreamers,” to ink a deal with Iran and to commit the U.S. to curbing greenhouse gases.

Instead, the party’s heart now belongs to Sen. Bernard Sanders, the democratic socialist who won’t even call himself a Democrat but who has completely rewritten the party’s agenda. (Washington Times, 3/4/2020)

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CORONAVIRUS – LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE

Fragile supply chains: Decades of fine-tuning global manufacturing have given billions of people access to quality consumer goods at affordable prices. That’s the upside of globalization. But the same trend has concentrated production of important items in certain countries, creating new vulnerabilities. For example, regions of China and broader Asia that produce most of the world’s smartphones have been forced to idle or cut manufacturing because of the outbreak. The decline in Chinese factory activity has been so pronounced, it’s actually visible from space. And US officials recently warned of drug shortages due to the shuttering of factories in China that make essential ingredients for some important medicines.

Fragile safety nets: Well before the new virus emerged in China, an annual report by the World Health Organization warned that the chances of a global outbreak were rising and that the world was “not prepared for a fast-moving, virulent respiratory pathogen pandemic.” It cited the usual problems – a lack of funding for public health monitoring and prevention, bureaucratic hurdles, and weak medical infrastructure, especially in poor and middle-income countries. But it also warned of “a breakdown in public trust…exacerbated by misinformation that can hinder disease control communicated quickly and widely via social media.” In the US, the safety net is further weakened by a lack of mandatory paid sick leave, which some people fear will compel sick people to show up at work, where they can infect colleagues and customers. (Gzero World, 3/4/2020)

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RYANAIR BOSS CONDEMNS ‘HYSTERIA’ OVER CORONAVIRUS

The boss of Ryanair has condemned what he called “lunacy on social media” and “hysteria” in coverage of the coronavirus.

Speaking to Sky News, Michael O’Leary appealed for a calm and measured approach to the coronavirus outbreak and said “Let’s not have irrational panic measures.” (The Week, 3/4/2020)

FlyBe became the first airline casualty of the virus, filing for bankruptcy on Wednesday. FlyBe is a UK domestic airline.

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HOW THE EU RULES THE WORLD The Brussels Effect: How the European Union Rules the World

For many observers, the European Union is mired in a deep crisis. Between sluggish growth; political turmoil following a decade of austerity politics, Brexit, and the rise of Asian influence, the EU is seen as a declining power on the world stage. Columbia Law professor Anu Bradford argues the opposite in her important new book The Brussels Effect: the EU remains an influential superpower that shapes the world in its image. By promulgating regulations that shape the international business environment, elevating standards worldwide, and leading to a notable Europeanization of many important aspects of global commerce, the EU has managed to shape policy in areas such as data privacy, consumer health and safety, environmental protection, antitrust, and online hate speech. And in contrast to how superpowers wield their global influence, the Brussels Effect – a phrase first coined by Bradford in 2012 – absolves the EU from playing a direct role in imposing standards, as market forces alone are often sufficient as multinational companies voluntarily extend the EU rule to govern their global operations. The Brussels Effect shows how the EU has acquired such power, why multinational companies use EU standards as global standards, and why the EU’s role as the world’s regulator is likely to outlive its gradual economic decline, extending the EU’s influence long into the future.

Düsseldorf’s Rheinmetall arms manufacturer is enjoying a sumptuous upswing in sales for its arms sector and a record-breaking number of contracts. Whereas the company’s automotive sector is marking a downswing in sales, in comparison to last year, due to 2019’s signs of weakness in the overall auto industry, the current boom in armaments is more than compensating. The shareholders are “delighted,” boasts stock exchange reports. At Rheinmetall, there is talk of a “‘super cycle’ in the company’s military sector.” Western governments – the company’s current and potential customers – are engaged in a massive arms buildup. Whereas this year’s military budget for the Bundeswehr will be increased to €45.1 billion – nearly 40 percent more than it was in 2014 – the military budgets of the European countries together will be more than €300 billion. The US military budget is more than US $700 billion. Rheinmetall is benefiting also from the Arab countries’ arms buildups against Iran, but above all, from the buildup of the western world against Russia and China. (German Foreign Policy, 3/3/2020)

Footage of numerous Turkish drone strikes in Idlib reveal their groundbreaking and effective use against Syrian regime defenses and armored vehicle formations. Turkey can’t fly its air force in Idlib due to an apparent ban by Russia and the Syrian regime. But Turkish drones can fly. Video feeds show drones striking columns of infantry and armored vehicles near Idlib. Turkey’s widespread use of drones in Idlib may be one of the largest concentrations of drones ever used in this manner. (Jerusalem Post, 3/3/2020)

The document that was signed is a pledge of commitment to each other. Adventists pledged a commitment to Rome, and Rome reciprocated that commitment. Make no mistake. The churches that signed this document promised to uphold the principles of the Ecumenical Charter which includes affirming an allegiance to each other.

The Ecumenical Charter declares that the church is “one, holy, catholic and apostolic” and therefore the “inescapable ecumenical task consists in making visible this unity.”

The Ecumenical Charter declares that the churches are “called together in the unity of faith.”

The Ecumenical Charter calls for the “visible unity of the Church of Jesus Christ in the one faith and in witness and in common service.”

The Ecumenical Charter says that “the most important task of the Churches is to proclaim the Gospel together through word and action, for the salvation of all human beings.” (AdventMessenger, 3/4/2020)

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TO THE POINT

America’s ​Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point, the largest single cut since the financial crisis. The move came after a pledge by finance ministers and central bankers from the G7, a group of the world’s biggest rich countries, to “use all appropriate policy tools” to combat the economic downturn caused by the spread of covid-19. President Donald Trump recently repeated his complaint that Fed rates were too high. (The Economist, 3/4/2020)

The World Bank pledged up to $12bn to help developing countries respond to the growing threat of covid-19. The announcement came just after the World Health Organisation said the disease’s global mortality rate is 3.4%. The World Bank’s aid will include a mix of grants, loans and other technical assistance, with priority given to the world’s poorest countries. (The Economist, 3/4/2020)

SUPPORT FOR ANTI-EU PARTIES ‘DOUBLES IN 20 YEARS’ – The vote share for anti-EU parties has more than doubled in two decades, according to research conducted by academic experts in populism. The study found that since 1992, the first year in which there were free and fair elections in every country currently a member of the bloc, combined support for European far-right, far-left and other Eurosceptic parties has surged from 15% to almost 35%. (The Week, 3/4/2020)

Lebanese Preacher: The Muslims Will Kill The Jews, Who Will Hide Behind Rocks And Trees, The Jews Are The Most Cowardly Of Allah’s Creations; Jerusalem Friday Sermon: It Is The Religious Obligation Of Muslims To Bear Animosity Against The Jews (MEMRI, 3/4/2020)

Indian migrants are driving a surge in citizenship as a record 211,723 people won the right to call Australia home in 2019. (The Australian, 2/20/2020)

Last week, I reviewed the book “The Race to save the Romanovs.” In my review I mentioned that support for the restoration of the monarchy in Russia is at 28%. That’s roughly the same percentage of votes any American president gets. 54.9% voted in 2016, which gave each candidate roughly 27%. Bill Clinton was voted into office with a mere 22% of the vote.

With 36 seats, Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud party will be the largest in Israel’s next Knesset. Benny Gantz’s centrist Blue and White alliance won 32. But with Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition still two seats shy of a majority, and his trial on charges of bribery and fraud due to begin on March 17th, his troubles are not over yet. (The Economist, 3/4/2020)

Johnson, pictured on the final day of campaigning, ran a campaign dominated by the promise to take the UK out of the EU (Reuters)

Once again, pollsters were wrong. And once again, conservatives benefitted.

The vote was supposed to be close. There was a lot of talk of a “hung” parliament, where there’s not enough seats to give any party a majority. This would have been the worst outcome. As it was, the Conservatives won, as they did in Australia earlier in the year; and in the 2016 US election when every prediction was that Hillary Clinton would be president.

It seems that people do not answer pollsters truthfully. Perhaps it’s because people are embarrassed to say they are Conservative, but vote with their wallets on election day. Margaret Thatcher won every time and that was the explanation. Well, whatever the reason, Boris Johnson won a landslide, the biggest vote for the Conservatives since Mrs. Thatcher in the 80s.

My home town of Grimsby, in the North of England, returned a Conservative MP for the first time in my lifetime. Others did the same. Partly, this was disillusionment with the Labor Party (socialists), who have promised much over the years, but delivered little. This time, according to analysis on Sky News, they promised 28 times as much as the Conservatives, an amount of money that would have been impossible to deliver.

But the main issue was Brexit. The Conservatives had a definite plan to get out of the European Union by January 31st. Labour’s plan was more negotiations with the EU, then a second referendum. There was a referendum in 2016 and those wanting to leave won. The experience of the last few years has been that many politicians refused to honor the referendum result. None of them were returned in last week’s election.

It’s the same with Scotland. A referendum there in 2014 showed the majority of Scots wanting to remain in the United Kingdom. But Mrs. Nicola Sturgeon refuses to accept that result and wants a second referendum. If successful, would she allow a third referendum seven years later when disillusionment with the reality of independence sets in? Doubtful. The Scottish people are subsidized by the English taxpayer to the tune of almost 2,000 pounds a year per person. Independence must mean a drop in living standards. Her hope is that Germany will help. But Germany is going to have to bail out everybody in Europe now that Britain is leaving.

However, the issue of Scottish independence is not going away. Boris Johnson has pledged to preserve the union, but even he is going to find that hard.

It’s not just Scotland, either. Northern Ireland presents another problem. For the first time ever, there are more Republican MPs from that region. The Unionists lost out for the first time. The Irish Republicans (who favor a united socialist Ireland) will be demanding independence at the same time as the Scots. If either breaks away, British security will be compromised. The UK’s nuclear base is in Clyde on the Scottish west coast. There’s also a big military presence in Northern Ireland.

But Brexit is first. Mr. Johnson has promised to deliver by the end of next month. There is no impediment in his way. There will follow eleven months of negotiations with the EU on a trade deal. The Europeans say that is impossible, it will take at least two years. With the election, power has shifted. The Europeans will have to deliver a trade deal by the end of 2020 if they want to keep British trade, and they will want to. The German car industry relies on Britain for 20% of its sales. They are not going to throw that away for the sake of teaching Britain a lesson.

The election result should benefit the US, too. Mr. Johnson has a personal friendship with Mr. Trump. Both were born in New York City. Both are known for their hair. And both are against globalism, preferring to put their country first.

The trend against pollsters may prove the same in 2020, when Donald Trump faces who knows who for the Democrats. In spite of impeachment (which isn’t going anywhere and seems solely to benefit hundreds of lawyers, all billing the taxpayer) and opinion polls that will show him losing to Elizabeth Buttagieg, or Bernie Biden, Donald Trump is most likely to win. The longer the impeachment process continues, the more support he has.

This is the big question – after all Nicola Sturgeon doesn’t just want to hold a referendum, she wants to win one.

Polling data collected by What Scotland Thinks suggests an increase in support for independence – but it generally remains just short of a majority. Excluding “don’t knows,” the average of polls this year has been 51% No to 49% Yes. The average for 2018 was 55% to 45% – the same as the 2014 referendum.

Would an independent Scotland stay in the EU? In practice, Scotland would not become independent the day after a Yes vote – there would have to be a period of transition. In 2014, the pro-independence side said it would take 18 months to set up an independent Scottish state. Even if a referendum was held tomorrow, the transition would therefore run beyond the end of 2020 – when the UK is due to complete its exit from the EU. This means Scotland would leave the EU with the rest of the UK, and would need to apply to join again.

Scotland would have to jump through the same hoops as any state seeking to join the EU, although it would have the advantage of having recently been a member.

Sturgeon’s own party’s prospectus for independence suggests this could take several years, whereas she wants to rejoin the EU as quickly as possible. The first minister also wants to avoid a hard border between Scotland and England.

The Senate foreign relations committee has voted unanimously in favor of a bipartisan bill that would prevent Trump from unilaterally withdrawing the US from Nato. The isolationist-inclined president is a noted sceptic of the transatlantic military alliance, and last week left the Nato summit in London early after the emergence of a hot mic video in which other world leaders appeared to be mocking him. The bill will now await a slot for a full vote in the Senate. (The Guardian, 12/12)

The largest arms producers in the USA and Western Europe, including German companies, have further increased their already predominant share of global arms production, as can be seen in the analysis published yesterday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute SIPRI. SIPRI analyzed the sales of the world’s Top 100 arms-producers and concluded that 83 percent of their output comes from 70 companies headquartered in countries of the self-proclaimed community of western values. Whereas the combined sales of the Top 100 arms companies have increased by 4.6 percent, compared to the preceding year, those of the US and West European companies have increased by around 5.2 percent.

Currently the production of military hardware is also massively expanding in Germany. The armaments division of the Düsseldorf-based Rheinmetall Group was able to boost its sales by 11.8 percent in the first nine months of this year. The increase of defense budget is promising business in the billions. German arms exports are also rising dramatically. (German Foreign Policy, 12/11)

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A 5,000-Year-Old Plan to Erase Debts Is Now a Hot Topic in America In ancient Babylon, a newly enthroned king would declare a jubilee, wiping out the population’s debts. In modern America, a faint echo of that idea call it jubilee-lite, is catching on. (Bloomberg, 10 Dec 2019)

Support for write-offs has been driven by Democratic presidential candidates. Elizabeth Warren says she’d cancel most of the $1.6 trillion in U.S. student loans. Bernie Sanders would go further -– erasing the whole lot, as well as $81 billion in medical debt. But it’s coming from other directions too. In October, one of the Trump administration’s senior student-loan officials resigned, calling for wholesale write-offs and describing the American way of paying for higher education as “nuts.’’ Real-estate firm Zillow cites medical and college liabilities as major hurdles for would-be renters and home buyers.

Moody’s Investors Service listed the headwinds from student debt -– less consumption and investment, more inequality — and said forgiveness would boost the economy like a tax cut. While the current debate centers on college costs, long-run numbers show how debt has spread through the economy. The U.S. relies on consumer spending for growth -– but it hasn’t been delivering significantly higher wages. Household borrowing has filled the gap, with low interest rates making it affordable. And that’s not unique to America. Steadily growing debts of one kind or another are weighing on economies all over the world.

The idea that debt can grow faster than the ability to repay, until it unbalances a society, was well understood thousands of years ago, according to Michael Hudson, an economist and historian. Last year Hudson published “And Forgive Them Their Debts,’’ a study of the ancient Near East where the tradition known as a “jubilee” — wiping the debt-slate clean — has its roots. He describes how the practice spread through civilizations including Sumer and Babylon, and came to play an important role in the Bible and Jewish law. Rulers weren’t motivated by charity, Hudson says. They were being pragmatic — trying to make sure that citizens could meet their own needs and contribute to public projects, instead of just laboring to pay creditors. And it worked, he says. “Societies that canceled the debts enjoyed stable growth for thousands of years.’’

A rare viral infection known as monkeypox has been diagnosed in England. The virus likely was contracted by a person in Nigeria.

Monkeypox could replace smallpox as a most dreaded disease. The related smallpox virus was eradicated in 1980, thanks to Western technology. (White people are often condemned for spreading smallpox, but seldom credited with destroying the virus worldwide.)

JOHANNESBURG – Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema on Sunday spelled out the party’s ambitious vision to lead the entire African continent to economic freedom. Speaking at the party’s second national people’s assembly in Nasrec, south of Johannesburg, Malema explained that it was only natural that economic freedom came from the south. The gathering was expected to come to an end on Monday.

Governing South Africa may have appeared to be a tall order for the EFF, but this was just one dream that formed part of even bolder ambitions. Malema wants the six-year-old organisation to have a presence everywhere on the continent. “Our vision is not these small-minded things you’re thinking about; we want to lead Africa. We want a United States of Africa with one currency, economy, and judiciary,” Malema said.

The party’s vision appeared to be inspired by late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi who dreamt of a United States of Africa. This plan could well be underway with formations from Liberia, Malawi, and Namibia who were among the guests attending the second people’s assembly in Nasrec.
(https://www.iafrica.com/we-want-a-united-states-of-africa-malema/)

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TO THE POINT

Authorities in Australia warned that a “mega-blaze” was threatening the north-western suburbs of Sydney. Covering about 400,000 hectares, the bushfire has already destroyed over 20 homes and is moving into the Blue Mountains area, a popular tourist destination. A heatwave is not helping; the Bureau of Meteorology advised that the record for the highest-ever temperature could be broken this week. (The Economist, 12/17)

America’s defence secretary said he needs to speak with his Turkish counterpart about remarks made by Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. On Sunday Mr. Erdogan issued a new threat: that it may shut down America’s Incirlik air base in eastern Anatolia. A worsening chill between the two NATO allies has made America jittery about the nuclear warheads it stores there. (The Economist, 12/17)

Chief Advisor To Turkish President Erdoğan: ‘The Islamic World Should Prepare An Army For Palestine From Outside Palestine’ (MEMRI 12/2)

A special court in Pakistan has sentenced former military leader Pervez Musharraf to death on charges of treason and subversion of the constitution. Mr. Musharraf seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999 and ruled until 2008. The sentence was largely seen as symbolic, as the former leader is currently in exile in Dubai. (The Economist, 12/17)

Protests in India, against a citizenship law designed to exclude Muslims from naturalisation, escalated in their fifth day. In Delhi police clashed with protesters around a Muslim university; at least 100 were injured and buses were set on fire. Other campuses around the country erupted in anger. In India’s north-east, where immigration is generally opposed, six people have been killed. (The Economist, 12/16)

Chief Advisor To Turkish President Erdoğan: ‘The Islamic World Should Prepare An Army For Palestine From Outside Palestine’ (MEMRI 12/2)

65 of Britain’s MPs returned to the House of Commons last week are minorities. That’s 10%. Take away the 59 Scots, and the percentage will increase to almost 20%. There were none a little over twenty years ago. This reflects Britain’s changing demographics, the result of massive immigration from the underdeveloped world since World War II.

I watched the British election on Sky News, a British 24/7 news channel available on “Watch Free”, a US streaming service. A day or two later, I was surprised to read that only 46, 000 people watched the election on Sky. The news company spent a small fortune on John Bercow, controversial former Speaker of the House of Commons, a commentator for the evening, who seemed to spend most of his time justifying his performance as Speaker.

It’s Friday morning here in Michigan. As I write, I’m watching the State Memorial service from Cologne (Koln) Cathedral, for the 150 people killed in the “Germanwings” flight in the French Alps on March 24th. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel was present, along with the German President Joachim Gauck. Spanish leaders were also represented. These were the two countries that lost the most people in the disaster.

The Cathedral is about a thirty-minute drive from Dusseldorf Airport where the plane was due to land after a short flight from Barcelona in Spain.

Koln Cathedral is one of the most magnificent buildings in Germany, an architectural marvel from the Middle Ages, a time of great faith in European history. At such a time as this, faith is a great help to those who have lost loved ones. The peace and serenity, together with inspiring music and the presence of 1,500 people, seemed to bring some comfort and closure to the relatives and friends of the victims, who still await burial.

The service is being relayed on BBC World, with occasional interruptions to bring the latest world news. Religion is a common theme running through the morning’s news program. Koln Cathedral is a reminder of the religious certainties of the past. Construction of the gothic cathedral began in 1248. The church remains a Roman Catholic cathedral, in a country divided by Lutheran Protestantism five centuries ago. The German Chancellor is the daughter of a Lutheran minister and grew up in the officially atheist German Democratic Republic (communist East Germany). The German president is a former Lutheran pastor who came to prominence as an anti-communist civil rights leader in the former communist state. The professed atheism of the eastern European countries did not bring the utopia that people had hoped for. I first visited the cathedral as a 16-year-old exchange student. The German student I stayed with was also an atheist.

Fifty years ago it seemed that religion was a thing of the past. Now, it dominates our news on a daily basis. This is especially true of news involving the Middle East.

A frequently mentioned news item this morning is the arrest of fifteen Muslim immigrants arriving by boat from Libya. The men originated from West African countries. 10,000 refugees have landed in Italy in the last seven days. The fifteen were all on the same boat and had deliberately pushed twelve Christians overboard during a religious dispute, killing all twelve.

Another news item was of regular chlorine bomb attacks on Sunni Muslims by the Shi’ite Alawite government of Syria. Victims included small children who died agonizing deaths, witnessed by survivors.

Switching for a few minutes to a US based channel, concern was being expressed over a US citizen who had spent two months in Syria training with ISIS, and was arrested on his return to the United States where he was planning terrorist attacks on Americans in uniform. The concern is that he is the first of many more to come, people motivated by extremist religious views, intent on mass killing.

In such a time of religious confusion, comfort can certainly be drawn from the religious certainties of the past. But those certainties hide a disturbing reality. In 1248, when the foundations of the cathedral were laid, beliefs were based more on tradition, on ignorance and superstition than on revealed scripture.

The Bible was not the foundation of the medieval church. It wasn’t until 1534 that the Bible was first published in German, having been translated by Martin Luther. It was the revealed truths in the scriptures that divided the medieval church, still clinging to beliefs and traditions that could not be biblically substantiated.

The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the truth. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus Christ is truth. He is also “the Word.” (John 1:1, 14) God’s Word is truth. (John 17:17) The Apostle Paul adds: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” (II Timothy 3:16)

The same Bible also tells us, in this age of great religious confusion, that salvation is only possible through Jesus Christ. (Acts 4:12)

The solid walls of Koln Cathedral may be a reminder of religious certainties but they also reflect certainties that were wrong. Today, we should be thankful that we have access to the scriptures, thanks to men like Martin Luther and his contemporary William Tyndale, who died to bring us the Bible in English.

Five centuries later, it was revealed just a few days ago, the Bible has still not been translated into 57% of the world’s languages.

For those of us who are blessed with a translation in our own language, we should renew our commitment to daily Bible Study and remember the importance of working out our own salvation (Philippians 2:12).

Martin Luther showed that it wasn’t the medieval church that could guarantee us salvation. That remains true today. Only Jesus Christ can guarantee us salvation. Our eternal life depends on Him. The Church can help guide us in the right direction, but salvation depends on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The sister of one of the German victims of the crash prayed a very moving, yet simple prayer before the congregation: “Lord, please dry our tears.”

This simple request brought to mind a verse in the last book of the bible: “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev. 21:4)

Understanding the real truth of God brings a peace of mind that truly sets us free. (John 8:32)